Don’t Pressure Your Peers, People

I work in a restaurant. I had a party of five on our patio who came in a bit buzzed. They were all in their twenties, celebrating [Birthday Girl]’s twenty-first birthday. As the youngest, she had the pleasure of being doted on by her friends who were ALL scrambling to buy her drinks and shots… up to a point. After the first drink, Birthday Girl’s enthusiasm turned to, “I don’t know. I’m kind of feeling it already.” Her friends did convince her to go for a second round.

When they wanted to do a third round — tequila for everyone — she kept saying:

Birthday Girl: “No, you guys don’t have to do that. I’m really fine.”

Her friends responded:

Friends: “If you’re not drunk on your twenty-first, you’re not fine!“

They went back and forth for a while like that. Then, I told the girl:

Me: “It’s your birthday; I think you should pick the tequila this time! Why don’t you follow me and I can show you our selections?”

As soon as we were inside, I said:

Me: “Look, if you don’t want to drink, I’ll bring out tequila for them and give you water, okay?”

It worked great, and a while after that, the group paid and left.

But I think back to it sometimes. I think a lot of us want to treat our loved ones when they’re legally old enough to be treated, but seriously, if someone says they’ve drunk enough, it shouldn’t matter if you think they’re drunk enough.